Prosecution Rests--uneasily--in Drug Trial

September 17, 1985|By Sam Smith, Chicago Tribune.

PITTSBURGH — An increasingly pessimistic U.S. Atty. J. Alan Johnson concluded the government`s case Monday against Philadelphia cook Curtis Strong, who is accused of selling cocaine to major league baseball players.

``Any case you have without narcotics in hand is a very difficult case. We didn`t have drugs, electronic surveillance, no buys, no physical evidence. That`s why we had to give immunity.``

Johnson reportedly began investigating cocaine use in professional baseball after former Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Rod Scurry turned himself in for drug treatment last year and later told the FBI his sources were players and their friends.

And starting Tuesday, defense attorney Adam Renfroe is expected to start attempting to break down the stories of the seven players, testifying with grants of immunity, who admitted cocaine use and named Strong as a seller to players.

Renfroe has threatened to call numerous players whose names have been mentioned by the seven, including Pete Rose and Willie Stargell, although they were accused of involvement with amphetamines and not cocaine.

Judge Gustave Diamond appeared to attempt to block that tactic Monday when he told Renfroe that issues like amphetamine use are not related to the case. But Renfroe said after court: ``There`s more than one way to skin a cat.``

He also has intimated he might call former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn and current commissioner Peter Ueberroth as well as two players the government did not call because they reportedly might confuse the case by naming even more players: Scurry, now with the Yankees, and Lee Lacy, now with the Orioles.

Renfroe also may call up to 50 character witnesses. And he said he will show that Strong has an alibi for all the times the government claims he sold drugs to the players.

The judge granted the government`s request to drop two of the 16 counts against Strong, with each count carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. In addition, Johnson said he would prosecute any of the players who lied in testimony but indicated that would be difficult without giving even more people immunity.

Meanwhile, jury selection in the trial of another of the seven men indicted last May for allegedly selling cocaine to baseball players started Monday in a courtroom down the hall from the Strong trial.

Robert McCue, a disc jockey and former Easter Seal Society controller here, was indicted on 13 counts of cocaine distribution between 1983 and 1985. He was named as a cocaine source by players Dale Berra and John Milner in the Strong case. They and other players are expected to testify in the McCue trial, too.

Three of the men indicted already have pleaded guilty, and the other two are awaiting trial.